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OPINION

Local columnist: Safe at home

I have a colleague, Chris Amys, whose son Luke, is just starting baseball. Chris is enthusiastically coaching Luke’s team and forwarded me this great story in an email. I could not find the author, but found the following in many news stories.

In 1996 more than 4,000 baseball coaches attended the 52nd annual ABCA convention. A 78-year-old coach named John Scolinos shuffled to the stage wearing dark pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung - a full-sized, stark-white home plate.

After speaking for 25 minutes, the coach said “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck. ...The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”

Several hands went up when Scolinos asked, “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?”

After a pause, someone offered, “17 inches,” more question than answer. “That’s right,” he said. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”

“17,” they said, sounding more confident. “And in the major leagues?” “SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a big league pitcher who can’t throw the ball over 17 inches?”

Pause. “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. You can’t hit a 17-inch target? We’ll make it 20 inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say 25 inches.’”

Pause. “Coaches ... What do we do when our best player shows up late to practice? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him, do we widen home plate? This is the problem in our homes, with our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We widen the plate!”

“...Where is that getting us?”

Silence. “And this is the problem in the church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate!”

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools and churches and our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to...”

With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside. “... dark days ahead.”

Roger Aiken is vice chair of the UNC Board of Governors. Email homeoftheaikens@charter.net.